Metro-North Railroad president to retire: WSJ

A morning commuter exits a Metro-North Hudson line train at Grand Central Station in New York December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - Metro-North Railroad President Howard Permut is expected to retire by the end of this month, as the company faces federal pressure to ramp up its safety systems after a deadly train crash in December, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Permut who has served as Metro-North's president since 2008, will be succeeded by Joseph Giulietti, the executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, the Journal said, citing officials familiar with the matter. (http://r.reuters.com/new75v)

Metro-North Railroad could not be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.

Last month, federal regulators launched a 60-day safety assessment of Metro-North, operator of the train that derailed on December 1 as it entered a sharp curve in New York's Bronx borough, killing four people and injuring 70 others.

The December train derailment was the latest in a string of problems last year for Metro-North, the second busiest U.S. commuter railroad in terms of monthly ridership.

The accident marked the first customer fatality in Metro-North's three-decade history and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Metro-North, called it a "black day" for the railroad.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover and Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)